[VICAR OF DIBLEY]

Originally Posted by kathy1516

They are a competent firm. I’ve been with them for a decade also. The OP was being overly critical and a phone call to delay the closing a day or two later would have been no problem. It’s unfair that OP tried to ruin this firm because the funds were delayed. Why did he wait until last minute to request the funds? Doesn’t make sense.

I stated that funds were requested approximately one month prior to the date I needed them.
Please reread what I wrote and the heading.
Another poster was charged $585.00 because they did not close on the date originally set.
How do you know there would have been no problem?

[Luggage]

An excellent response, it once took me one year to get my 401k transferred because the funds and the stocks were privately traded very rarely

[Bonnevie]

I agree with everyone to immediately take your assets away from this "wealth management" company. My guess is that they take a percentage of assets for managing your assets. They probably sold themselves as a firm that will do all the work while you enjoy retirement. Well, they proved you get no stress free handling. I speak from experience having initially started with a similar firm that made those promises and I believed them until I started paying attention.

I would suggest you make an appt. with Fidelity at LSL. They will assign a person to you and you can decide how much you want them to do. If you go with them, they'll take care of all the transfers and usually they give you a monetary bonus for doing so.

[BlueStarAirlines]

The big takeaway for me is that people still use full service brokerages. I knew they were still around, but with all the low\no cost brokerage houses I'm wondering what is the point of going with full service?

[Tbrazie]

Get a new broker immediately.

[rde3036]

Originally Posted by coralway

Ditto - and I have been trading with them since 1986. Never had a single problem. Cash is usually available to withdraw after 2 days

Never heard of Michael Whitaker, though.

Another vote for Fidelity. Been with them since 1990 and have never had a problem.

[ElDiabloJoe]

I would HIGHLY recommend you find an investment manager who is "Fee ONLY." Preferably one who is at least an RIA (Registered Investment Advisor).

There are three kinds of investment managers:

1. Commission based. These will churn your portfolio for the sole purpose of generating commissions (Hello, Fidelity!);
2. Fee-Based. These are part commission, and part fee;
3. Fee ONLY. These charge a percentage of your portfolio (usually about 1% annually taken quarterly) and are motivated to do what is right by you. When YOU make money, THEY make money. Same with the losses.

We have been fortunate to find one in Southern California (we live in FL and TN) who is not only fee-ONLY, she is also a CPA. She knows exactly the tax consequences of the advice she gives. She also fire-tested our retirement plans to ensure we were in a position to be able to retire. She ran our budgets through a software that gives you percentages of success rates of surviving past economic cycles. We were 99% (it never tells you 100%) to survive every past economic cycle in the last century or so, except were were only 95% certain to survive the 1929 Wall St crash and subsequent depression.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Babubhat

The SEC is beyond useless. More interested in stupid 10k footnotes. Speaking from experience. Move your account immediately

"Move your account immediately," it may not be that simple. First of all you need to have an account with another brokerage. Secondly, to avoid tax consequences the other brokerage would need to transfer it, whatever it is, in kind And do it with no fees. Since there is a bit of work and no profit in doing it, it may be difficult.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by ElDiabloJoe

I would HIGHLY recommend you find an investment manager who is "Fee ONLY." Preferably one who is at least an RIA (Registered Investment Advisor).

There are three kinds of investment managers:

1. Commission based. These will churn your portfolio for the sole purpose of generating commissions (Hello, Fidelity!);
2. Fee-Based. These are part commission, and part fee;
3. Fee ONLY. These charge a percentage of your portfolio (usually about 1% annually taken quarterly) and are motivated to do what is right by you. When YOU make money, THEY make money. Same with the losses.

We have been fortunate to find one in Southern California (we live in FL and TN) who is not only fee-ONLY, she is also a CPA. She knows exactly the tax consequences of the advice she gives. She also fire-tested our retirement plans to ensure we were in a position to be able to retire. She ran our budgets through a software that gives you percentages of success rates of surviving past economic cycles. We were 99% (it never tells you 100%) to survive every past economic cycle in the last century or so, except were were only 95% certain to survive the 1929 Wall St crash and subsequent depression.

I am not an investment advisor. My OPINION. Using a fee only advisor-you pay for the advice-who is in Calif a state with HIGH state taxes to advise you in Florida a state with no state tax and other different laws does not make much sense. As far as that report of you surviving every past economic cycle. It is on the internet for FREE.

You seem to have a negative opinion on Fidelity. I deal with Vanguard, T. Rowe and Fidelity and I vastly prefer Fidelity. You can talk to a HUMAN 24 hours a day 7 days a week and in the Villages they have an office in Lake Sumter landing, for me a major plus when you are dealing with typical messy paperwork. A mistake can be costly and or a mess to straighten it out.

As stated MY OPINION and why.

[ElDiabloJoe]

Well, the tax advice is relevant because it is the U.S. tax code. Since neither FL, nor TN, have a state income tax, her advice would not be altered. I agree, an advisor is not necessary, especially if you are one of the very rare few who actually read and understand all the minutiae in your funds' prospecti. I am not. I also do not spend my days monitoring the direction of the economy, deciphering jobs, unemployment, CPI reports, PPI reports, and various investment sectors on an ongoing basis. I leave that to her firm. You may be a Buffett can read the signs and omens that allow you to best endure market shifts. In that case, I tip my hat. However, you did make it clear you are not an investment advisor.

For mere mortals like myself, I'm happy to allow the professionals do what they do. I'm glad your methodology is working out for you and you are happy with it.

PS- I get a human, her, when I call also. I don't get a random phone operator at Vanguard or Edward Jones, or even Fidelity.

PPS- your "no fee" investments actually do have fees. Quite a bit higher than most believe. Just sayin.

[Boomer]

Never mind

[Lovetocamp2]

I wouldn’t work with an independent broker because if they do anything fraudulent there’s no oversight and there is no one to repay you if your broker goes to prison. Look at Bernie Madoff he was a Fiduciary who stole millions from people and their was no one watching over him or backing him up when it was discovered. Go with a big company like Edward Jones, Fidelity, Vanguard and they have compliance officers watching for unscrupulous transactions and as someone said earlier when a mistake was made Edward Jones made sure he didn’t lose any money.

[Eg_cruz]

Originally Posted by Lovetocamp2

I wouldn’t work with an independent broker because if they do anything fraudulent there’s no oversight and there is no one to repay you if your broker goes to prison. Look at Bernie Madoff he was a Fiduciary who stole millions from people and their was no one watching over him or backing him up when it was discovered. Go with a big company like Edward Jones, Fidelity, Vanguard and they have compliance officers watching for unscrupulous transactions and as someone said earlier when a mistake was made Edward Jones made sure he didn’t lose any money.

You are 100% WRONG……. Individual brokers still have broker dealers and clearing companies that they work with. They have to follow SEC and FINRA rules just like ALL brokers. Bernie was is his own dealer and clearing company that’s where Ponzi scheme come in to place.
If all you out there who keep pushing Fidelity, Edward Jones and others like it…….KNOW they to have had plenty of complaints and judgements against them.
Individual brokers also have compliance officers they have to go through, they get audited by SEC and FINRA They big difference between an individual broker and a Fidelity broker is an individual one has a mind of their own and still HAVE TO FOLLOW THE LAW.

lastly remember this there are 3 sides to every story in this case the OP, the broker(which no one has heard) and the truth(again which no one has heard)

[valuemkt]

The days of having to call someone to execute a stock sale are long gone. Just the fact that the named company requires you to do that is a bad sign.. Or perhaps the OP doesnt want or can't use technology to execute the sale ? People still think the word fiduciary means something.. It's a necessary but not sufficient designation. Regarding transferring accounts and holdings "in-kind", I'll put in another thumbs up with Fidelity. A few years ago I was trying to transfer what was a self-directed IRA in Equity Trust. Equity gave me nothing but trouble, and I tried both Merrill and Fidelity to help. I had other IRAs in both institutions. Merrill was useless. Fidelity assigned someone to help, and in spite of Equity's stonewalling, they got it done. And I agree that it is very easy to talk with a human there that actually follows up.

[Bonnevie]

Originally Posted by DAVES

"Move your account immediately," it may not be that simple. First of all you need to have an account with another brokerage. Secondly, to avoid tax consequences the other brokerage would need to transfer it, whatever it is, in kind And do it with no fees. Since there is a bit of work and no profit in doing it, it may be difficult.

yep, that's true. Fidelity did all that for me and gave me a cash bonus on top of it for transferring my funds to them. Then I could decide if I wanted them to do fee only asset management or do it myself. I chose to do it myself but I still have access to someone there for advice.